Come to think of it, John, too, had never let her down. He was always the one who showed up, often first, often waiting for her. He had never become frustrated or angry when Zoe needed to cancel a date because she was out on a case in another part of the country, even when it came up last minute.
Somehow, gradually and without realizing it, Zoe had managed to surround herself with the kind of people on whom she could depend.
“All right, sit on the edge of the bath,” Dr. Applewhite said, ushering Zoe into a white, marble-lined bathroom and bustling over to a cabinet. It turned out to be full of various makeup and skincare products. She drew out a bottle of something which she tilted against a cotton pad, a swift and practiced motion.
“What are you going to do?” Zoe asked, eyeing the bottle with alarm. All of this was beyond her normal understanding. She had never been the kind of woman who tried to look pretty. She kept her brown hair cropped short for convenience, and everything was about the job. Practicality. Comfortable, plain clothes that were easy to move in, flat shoes for running. A clean face, because she had to be on the road at the drop of a hat, and rain could fling mascara into your eyes just when you were on the heels of a suspect. The field of beauty was alien to her, save for a few experiments in college that had never gone well.
“Tilt your head back, and close your eyes,” Dr. Applewhite said. Without thinking, Zoe obeyed her blindly. Dr. Applewhite was a full four inches shorter than her, and didn’t have far down to lean now that Zoe was on the edge of the bath. “I’m going to take off these panda eyes you’ve given yourself and start again. Let me guess—you couldn’t get them even, so you kept adding a bit more to each side to try and make them equal?”
Zoe nodded, then froze as the feel of the cotton wool pad soaked in something wet swept across her closed eyelid. “I have the eyeliner with me,” she said. “I am sorry for coming over like this. I didn’t know who else to ask for help.”
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Applewhite said, her voice a little distant with concentration. “I’m always here for you, Zoe. You know that. Now, give me the eyeliner.”
Zoe fumbled in her bag to hand it over, then obediently closed her eyes again. Dr. Applewhite’s firm and steady hand brushed over each of her eyelids again, one by one, a light pressure that flicked out a well-practiced line.
“There,” Dr. Applewhite said, sounding quietly pleased with herself. “Take a look.”
Zoe opened her eyes, blinking in the bright lights of the bathroom while her eyes readjusted. She stood and headed to the bathroom mirror, and caught her breath.
Dr. Applewhite had drawn elegant, thin lines with the black paint, sweeping along the curve of her eyelid and then flicking out just a tiny tail at the edges. The liner drew out the darkness in her brown eyes, contrasted it against the lighter flecks of color in her irises. Zoe had never seen herself like this before. She looked exotic. Feminine.
“Happy?” Dr. Applewhite asked. “I can do something else if you want.”
Zoe nodded, biting her lip. “Happy,” she said.
“Tonight must be special,” Dr. Applewhite said, sitting down on the closed lid of the toilet.
Zoe resumed her position on the side of the bath, perching there like a teenager. “I am going on a double date with John, Shelley, and her husband,” she explained. “I wanted to make an effort.”
“Well, you look beautiful,” Dr. Applewhite said, gesturing to the deep crimson dress Zoe had picked out. “I’ve never seen you wear something like this.”
Zoe looked down. She had, at first, felt uncomfortable with the way the dress dipped low across her cleavage, the way it clung to her hips and the slit in the fabric that ran to her lower thigh. She had been even more uncomfortable in the shoes, though the heel was barely more than an inch high. It was all new to her. “I wanted to show him that I can be…” She sought the word. “Womanly.”
Dr. Applewhite leaned over and grasped Zoe’s hand in hers. “He knows that already. John has stuck with you this long. You don’t have to change for him.”
“I know.” Zoe hesitated, trying to sum up the feeling. “It is more that… I want to.”
Dr. Applewhite smiled, a deep and genuine smile that seemed to stem from her eyes and reach her lips second. “Things are getting serious with him.”
It wasn’t a question, but Zoe felt compelled to answer it anyway. “Maybe. Tonight…” Zoe took a deep breath. This was the thing that was really making her jittery with nerves, the thing that had pushed her to make more of an effort with her appearance. “Tonight, I want to talk with him. Really talk. About our future, and where the relationship is going.”
Dr. Applewhite’s eyes, lined as they were with the wrinkles of a life of frequent smiles, were shining with moisture. Everyone seemed to be like that around her lately. Zoe wondered if flu season was getting an early start. “What do you hope for him to say?”
Zoe looked down at her bitten fingernails. She had attempted to put on some nail varnish that morning, but it had not gone well. In the end, she had scrubbed it all away and resolved to focus on her face. “I do not know,” she admitted. “Things have been going well between us, but sooner or later they have to go forward or stop. I am…”
Dr. Applewhite spoke up, completing the sentence for her. “Afraid?”
Zoe inclined her head. “A little.”
“And what about the numbers?” Dr. Applewhite asked, cutting right to the heart of the matter as she always did. “Does he know yet?”
“No,” Zoe sighed. The number of people who knew about her secret, her ability to see the numbers in everything, she could count on one hand. Shelley, Dr. Monk, Dr. Applewhite, and her physician. Those who had to know, and those who had worked it out for themselves.
“Do you think you might tell him?” Dr. Applewhite prompted, gently.
Zoe turned her hands over, studied the lines on her palms. Some people, she knew, believed that you could read a fortune there in the length and angle of the lines. It was the kind of thinking that might have been addictive for her, if she had believed any of it. “Perhaps,” she said, tracing the line that she knew was thought to be connected to love. “Depending on tonight.”
Dr. Applewhite stood abruptly, starting to bustle around. She hid her face from Zoe to busy herself in the bathroom cabinet. “I hope it goes well,” she said, her voice strangely strained. “I really do.”
“Thank you,” Zoe said. “I mean, for everything.”
To her surprise, Dr. Applewhite spun around then and swept her into an embrace, a light clutch and squeeze around her shoulders. When she released her, Dr. Applewhite was patting at her eyes, turning Zoe toward the door with a gentle push. “I don’t know why you’re wasting time with an old woman like me,” she said. “You’ve got a big date to get to. Go on, now. Go have fun.”
Privately, Zoe wondered if it was going to be fun after all. There was a lot riding on the outcome of her conversation with John, and this was also a chance to make a better impression on Shelley’s husband than she had the last time she met.
As she stepped out into the street and headed for her car, Zoe felt the weight of pressure settling on her shoulders. It joined the nerves thrumming through her, until she almost thought she might drive straight home.